Back in February, some friends and I put together a unique wine tasting – six single vineyard wines from the famed Ciel du Cheval vineyard. All were from the 2005 vintage and were a mixture cabernet-based (Cadence, Mark Ryan’s Dead Horse, Seven Hills, and Januik) and merlot-based wines (Andrew Will, Mark Ryan’s Long Haul).

Jim Holmes’ Ciel du Cheval vineyard is regarded as one of Washington’s best. Located in the Red Mountain AVA, this vineyard provides grapes to many of the states top wineries, including Quilceda Creek, Betz, and McCrea to name a few. However, most wineries blend grapes from this vineyard with others from Red Mountain or Washington’s other AVAs. This tasting therefore gave us a rare opportunity to focus in on this exceptional vineyard as well as the skill of the winemakers.

In rating the top three wines across seven tasters, Mark Ryan’s Dead Horse Red came in first. Cadence and Andrew Will were tied for second and Januik was third.

The wines were all generally in their infancy, and we agreed to do the same tasting again in three years once the wines had additional time to develop.

1 Responses to 2005 Vintage, Ciel du Cheval Vineyard

Ciel du Cheval Vineyard is owned and operated by Jim and Pat Holmes and is located on Red Mountain, just outside Benton City, Washington. Ciel du Cheval is French for "Horse Heaven" and was founded by Roger Johnson and Alva Ward in 1975 making it one of the oldest vineyards in Washington State.(Quilcedacreek.com)